United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (in case citations, 1st Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:

• District of Maine
• District of Massachusetts
• District of New Hampshire
• District of Puerto Rico
• District of Rhode Island

The court is based at the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts. Most sittings are held in Boston, where the court usually sits for one week most months of the year; in one of July or August, it takes a summer break and does not sit. The First Circuit also sits for one week each March and November at the Jose V. Toledo Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and occasionally sits at other locations within the circuit.

With six active judges and four active senior judges, the First Circuit has the fewest judges of any of the thirteen United States courts of appeals. It covers most of New England, as well as Puerto Rico. Following his retirement from the Supreme Court in 2009, Associate Justice David Souter occasionally sat on the First Circuit by designation. Former justice Stephen Breyer began to do so in 2025.

Current composition of the court

since November 7, 2025Template:Dated maintenance category (articles):

#	Title	Judge	Duty station	Born	Term of service			Appointed by
					Active	Chief	Senior
32	Chief Judge		Boston, MA	1967	2014–present	2022–present	—
33	Circuit Judge		San Juan, PR	1965	2021–present	—	—
34	Circuit Judge		Providence, RI	1974	2022–present	—	—
35	Circuit Judge		Boston, MA	1972	2023–present	—	—
36	Circuit Judge		Concord, NH	1974	2024–present	—	—
37	Circuit Judge		Portland, ME	1983	2025–present	—	—
18	Senior Circuit Judge		inactive	1927	1972–1992	1983–1990	1992–present
27	Senior Circuit Judge		Boston, MA	1946	1995–2022	2008–2015	2022–present
28	Senior Circuit Judge		Portland, ME	1941	1998–2011	—	2011–present
29	Senior Circuit Judge		Concord, NH	1955	2002–2022	2015–2022	2022–present
30	Senior Circuit Judge		Providence, RI	1951	2010–2022	—	2022–present
31	Senior Circuit Judge		Portland, ME	1953	2013–2024	—	2024–present

List of former judges

#	Judge	State	Born–died	Active service	Chief Judge	Senior status	Appointed by	Reason for termination
1		RI	1846–1924	1891–1913	—	—	/ Operation of law	resignation
2		ME	1835–1918	1892–1917	—	—		retirement
3		MA	1855–1911	1905–1911	—	—		death
4		MA	1857–1912	1911–1912	—	—		death
5		MA	1847–1927	1912–1918	—	—		resignation
6		NH	1864–1949	1913–1939	—	1939–1949		death
7		ME	1859–1930	1917–1929	—	1929–1930		death
8		MA	1861–1938	1918–1931	—	1931–1938		death
9		ME	1870–1942	1929–1940	—	1940–1942		death
10		MA	1869–1940	1932–1939	—	1939–1940		death
11		MA	1893–1968	1939–1959	1948–1959	1959–1968		death
12		RI	1882–1952	1940–1950	—	1950–1952		death
13		NH	1899–1970	1941–1964	1959–1964	1964–1970		death
14		RI	1887–1968	1950–1965	—	1965–1968		death
15		MA	1907–2002	1959–1972	1965–1972	1972–2002		death
16		RI	1906–1981	1965–1976	—	1976–1981		death
17		ME	1919–2009	1965–1989	1972–1983	1989–2009		death
19		NH	1920–2003	1977–1990	—	1990–2003		death
20		MA	1938–present	1980–1994	1990–1994	—		elevation to Supreme Court
21		PR	1933–2020	1984–2020	1994–2001	—		death
22		RI	1934–2025	1986–2006	—	2006–2025		death
23		ME	1931–2016	1989–1997	—	1997–2016		death
24		NH	1939–2025	1990	—	—		elevation to Supreme Court
25		MA	1939–2025	1992–2013	2001–2008	2013–2021		retirement
26		NH	1931–2023	1992–2001	—	2001–2023		death

Chief judges

Chief Judge
Magruder	1948–1959
Woodbury	1959–1964
Aldrich	1965–1972
Coffin	1972–1983
Campbell	1983–1990
Breyer	1990–1994
Torruella	1994–2001
Boudin	2001–2008
Lynch	2008–2015
Howard	2015–2022
Barron	2022–present

Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their circuits, and preside over any panel on which they serve, unless the circuit justice (the Supreme Court justice responsible for the circuit) is also on the panel. Unlike the Supreme Court, where one justice is specifically nominated to be chief, the office of chief judge rotates among the circuit judges.

To be chief, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as chief judge. A vacancy is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges, with seniority determined first by commission date, then by age. The chief judge serves for a term of seven years, or until age 70, whichever occurs first. If no judge qualifies to be chief, the youngest judge over the age of 65 who has served on the court for at least one year shall act as chief until another judge qualifies. If no judge has served on the court for more than a year, the most senior judge shall act as chief. Judges can forfeit or resign their chief judgeship or acting chief judgeship while retaining their active status as a circuit judge.

When the office was created in 1948, the chief judge was the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire, on what has since 1958 been known as senior status, or declined to serve as chief judge. After August 6, 1959, judges could not become or remain chief after turning 70 years old. The current rules have been in operation since October 1, 1982.

Succession of seats

The court has six seats for active judges, numbered in the order in which they were initially filled. Judges who assume senior status enter a kind of retirement in which they remain on the bench but vacate their seats, thus allowing the U.S. President to appoint new judges to fill their seats.

Seat 1
Established on December 10, 1869 by the Judiciary Act of 1869 as a circuit judgeship for the First Circuit
Reassigned on June 16, 1891 to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit by the Judiciary Act of 1891
Colt	RI	1891–1913
Bingham	NH	1913–1939
Magruder	MA	1939–1959
Aldrich	MA	1959–1972
Campbell	MA	1972–1992
Boudin	MA	1992–2013
Barron	MA	2014–present

Seat 2
Established on June 16, 1891 by the Judiciary Act of 1891
Putnam	ME	1892–1917
Johnson	ME	1917–1929
Wilson	ME	1929–1940
Woodbury	NH	1941–1964
McEntee	RI	1965–1976
Bownes	NH	1977–1990
Souter	NH	1990
Stahl	NH	1992–2001
Howard	NH	2002–2022
Aframe	NH	2024–present

Seat 3
Established on January 21, 1905 by 33 Stat. 611
Lowell	MA	1905–1911
Schofield	MA	1911–1912
Dodge	MA	1912–1918
Anderson	MA	1918–1931
Morton Jr.	MA	1932–1939
Mahoney	RI	1940–1950
Hartigan	RI	1950–1965
Coffin	ME	1965–1989
Cyr	ME	1989–1997
Lipez	ME	1998–2011
Kayatta Jr.	ME	2013–2024
Dunlap	ME	2025–present

Seat 4
Established on October 20, 1978 by 92 Stat. 1629
Breyer	MA	1980–1994
Lynch	MA	1995–2022
Rikelman	MA	2023–present

Seat 5
Established on July 10, 1984 by 98 Stat. 353
Torruella	PR	1984–2020
Gelpí	PR	2021–present

Seat 6
Established on July 10, 1984 by 98 Stat. 353
Selya	RI	1986–2006
Thompson	RI	2010–2022
Montecalvo	RI	2022–present

Notable decisions

• West v. Randall (1820), one of the first decisions setting precedent for class action suits

See also

• Courts of the United States
• Judicial appointment history for United States federal courts#First Circuit
• List of current United States circuit judges
• List of United States federal courthouses in the First Circuit

References

Specific

General

External links

• United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• Recent opinions from Findlaw
• First Circuit Court Records Finder